Tuesday

                      Musings and History

Quote of the day:

“I am not saying I am fat, but as a kid I was chosen to play Bethlehem in the Christmas play.”

                                                  Jo Brand

Up in Charlotte, NC a landmark is going the way of the Titanic. The Double Door Inn is going to close its doors permanently soon if not already. The place has seen some of the finest American blues musicians ever. Parking is and has always been a problem because it is located in an old residential neighborhood that eventually became commercial. One night I was going to take a date to see Tinsley Ellis and we went to a restaurant and ate then took a cab to the Double Door. When we opened the door the smoke was about eye level. It did not burn our eyes but all of a sudden we got very hungry. Somehow some large fans came on and the smoke cleared...It was a great show.

That same lady invited me to go see the opera The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart in a fancy theater in downtown Charlotte. It was a first class extravaganza, costume changes and all but all the songs were in Italian which put me at a disadvantage. There was a lot of very rich people there also. How do I now they were rich? The men had on perfectly fitting tuxedos, shiny shoes, white silk scarves, professionally styled haircuts and YSL cologne. The ladies were dazzling in their form fitting sequined gowns, some short and some long, some off the shoulder and some not, some carrying fur stoles and jackets and some not, but they all had professionally constructed coiffures and plenty of glitter from the jewelry present on every appendage and around their necks. Me being and ass and legs man I did not get to their shoes. Many of them had feathered appliances in their hair and on their earlobes. These items reminded me of a jig I had used to catch striped bass. Their perfumes was a mixture of White Diamonds, Chanel #5, Red Door and a few others that when combined the aroma became very similar to Raid. I was resplendent in my white cotton turtleneck, blue blazer and Levi 501's in addition to my white socks, almost new New Balance sneakers and Paul Sebastian cologne. It was a memorable experience.

                 This Date in History September 5

1957 Jack Kerouac has his blockbuster book “On the Road” published. Jack’s book is considered the textbook of the restless beat generation and he lived all that he wrote about. He hitchhiked his way around the country taking mental notes as he went. Once he started writing he would tape several sheets of paper together so he would not have to stop his train of thought to change paper in his typewriter. One section of his manuscript for On The Road was 120 feet long of single spaced type. He was notorious for staying awake for days with the use of “uppers” and oceans of coffee while creating his novels. Jack also gave us “The Dharma Bums” and “The Subterraneans” among others. Jack was a two fisted drinker as are/were many of the writers of the world. He died in Florida of an internal hemorrhage at the age of 47. What a waste of a God given talent.

1969 Army Lt. William Calley is charged with murder of Vietnamese civilians in the village of Mi Lai in 1968. An American patrol had been harassed for days by a Viet Cong unit. The patrol came into the village expecting to find the Cong hiding in the village. They were not there so the soldiers started killing the villagers instead at the behest of Lt. Calley. They killed over 200 women, children and old men. Calley was convicted and given life imprisonment. Through a series of appeals and pardons he served 3½ years.

1863 The Confederacy ordered 3 ironclad warships from the British Laird shipyard. The ships are to be built with a large iron probe protruding from the bow that would obviously be used against US ship blockading Confederate ports The US Minister to Great Britain got the blueprints to these ships and sent a message to the British Lord of the Admiralty. The message read “There is no sense in me reiterating to your Lordship that the construction of these vessels means war with the United States, is there?” The ships were not built.

1917 The Battle of the Marne begins in WWI. Let me tell you something folks, this was to be the war to end all wars and it was almost that with this battle. As always the Germans were trying to defeat France and the French in an uncharacteristic show of military prowess attacked the advancing Germans in a surprise maneuver. There were 2 million men involved in this one battle. 2 MILLION, for crying out loud. How can you make a “surprise” move with that many men but they did. They attacked the German right flank and after 4 days of continuous combat the exhausted Germans withdrew. There were 100,000 casualties in one day. After the Germans withdrew, everybody dug in and trench warfare ensued. It became a war of attrition meaning who could stand to lose men and who couldn’t? It was a meat grinder for both sides.

1957 Boris Pasternak gave us Dr. Zhivago. There is not much anyone can say about this book except that it is one of the milestones in world literature along with others like War and Peace, A Tale of Two Cities, etc. What a wonderful and diverse universe we have available for us in literature.

1972 Some of you may be old enough to remember what happened at the Munich Olympics but on this day Arab terrorist (does that sound familiar) attack the Israeli dorms and took nine athletes as hostage in hopes that Israel will release their terrorist brethren being held in Israel in return for the release of the athletes. It didn’t happen. German police had set up an ambush at the airport but the Arab rats smelled out the ambush and killed all the hostages. Some of the terrorists escaped but as usual, Israel sent out the Mossad, which is their secret assassin group, to hunt these pigs down. It took a while, but the Mossad killed all of those pig sucking Arabs. I have a logic question. Are all terrorists Arabs or are all Arabs terrorists? Is there a middle ground? If there is, how do we honkies know where that is when their clergy wants us all dead or subjugated to Islam?

Sorry for the sermon but I have been hearing about those sons-of- bitches all of my life. During WWI US Gen. John J. (Black Jack) Pershing started having problems with the Palestinians. He resolved it by immediately executing those that had attacked and buried them all with dead pigs. No more problems.

Born today:

1638 King Louis XIV, Monarch of France. He said “I could better reconcile all of Europe than I could two arguing women.” Nothing has changed from that day to this, Lou.

1902 US moviemaker Daryl F. Zanuck. He said “Any of my indiscretions were with people, not actresses.” Daryl had his finger on the pulse of Hollywood.

1929 US comedian Bob Newhart. He said “I don’t like country music. I don’t mean to denigrate those that do. To those that do, denigrate means to “put down.” Bob, shut up.

1940 US actress and sex symbol Rachel Welch. She said “I was invited to Chicago because Chicago is one of our fifty-two states.” I was going to tell her what a stupid bitch she is, but after a second look I will say “Rachel baby, no body is perfect, except maybe yours.”

            Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.